Twenty, Ten, Ten: Is it The Standard?

You are all probably wondering, what does "Twenty, Ten, Ten" have to do with anything in Yu-Gi-Oh deck building? There are a few standards when deck building that are generally followed to create a balance and equal ratio between Monsters, Spells, and Traps.

----------NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS

Now let's dabble into these numbers:

TWENTY: Generally speaking, most decks want to run no more than 20 Monsters, (there are many exceptions that will be mentioned later).

TEN: Most decks that run this basic structure will run no more than 10 Spells.

TEN: Most decks that run this basic structure will run no more than 10 Traps.

----------

RATIOS

When running this basic structure, you theoretically have a perfect balance between Monsters, Spells, and Traps. You would draw about Two-Three Monsters, Two Spells, and maybe One-Two Traps.

*Again this is all theoretical, we do have the unpredictable nature of the game that will give you some terrible hands*

When building decks, keeping a ratio in mind is critical to your success. Whether it may be a Thirty, Five, Five Ratio; it will still balance out evenly the way you would like it to.

When following this Basic structure, it makes siding easy. You will want to keep the Ratio exactly the same if possible. There is nothing worse than siding a lot of Trap Support against a deck, but when it comes down the Duel, you draw NO monsters.

When deck building, make sure you have a ratio in mind. Whether it be the Twenty, Ten, Ten...or any other ratio, make sure it as consistent as possible. My personal favorite structure is Twenty, Ten, Ten. My Dino Rabbit deck for example follows this Generic Ratio.

----------

Consistency

Many people think that the Broken cards they put in are the "heart of the deck". But in reality, Consistency is the Heart of any deck. Consistency can come in many forms when deck building. It can come in the form of a Simple Spell Card, or a more complex Engine.

If your confused, I will elaborate.

Let's use Gravekeepers as an example. Generally speaking, the only card you need to make the deck more consistent would be Pot of Duality. It gives you the power of choice, while generating a hand to pull off the essential combos. In most recent Gravekeeper Decks you will find another card: Card Car D, which also adds consistency to the deck. Card Car D generates potential hand advantage will also baiting out Effect Veiler, and other trap cards. Once the big threats are used on Card Car D, you can pull off your combo plays with no fear.

Now lets talk about Atlanteans now. They use a more elaborate and intricate engine that gives the deck phenomenal consistency. (It actually uses more than one engine currently, and when Rise of the Abyss is released, it will change). Currently Atlanteans have the Deep Sea Diva engine that opens many plays with Synchros/XYZ monsters. It also utilizes Genex Undine and the Genex Controller, which provides deck thinning, and can get your Atlantean effects off efficiently. Not only does this deck utilize monster engines, but utilizes a particular Spell card that recycles the consistency over and over again, Call of the Atlanteans.

As you can see, there are many different ways to add consistency to a deck. When a deck is devoid of Consistency, it will not be able to carry out the functions it was meant to perform. When deck building always keep in mind a few things to add consistency to your deck:

- Never forget your deck Ratio.

- Draw Power.

- Function of the deck.

Consistency is actually a very easy thing to pull off, but troubles many deck builders. It's actually very unfortunate, just takes some time and effort to make sure that whatever you add to a deck, works seamlessly and effortlessly.

----------

This pretty much concludes it for now. I will make more posts like this, elaborating on Monster, Spell, and Trap Choices.